The word Renaissance means “rebirth” and is used to represent a period in which there was tremendous growth in literature, poetry, and drama. During that time, there were many great playwrights; one of them was William Shakespeare, who wrote different genres of play, such as comedy, tragedy, and histories. One of his famous tragedies play is Hamlet, which based on Prince Hamlet’s revengeful plan against his uncle, King Claudius. However, some critics question Hamlet’s insanity and they believe Hamlet is actually pretending to be insane. The purpose of this essay is to examine the extent to which the character, Hamlet, is insane. Despite different critics’ opinions regarding Hamlet’s insanity, it seems Hamlet is not insane at the beginning …show more content…
He only feels grief and sorrow because his father’s death is too sudden that he does not know how to handle and response. Yet, the death of Hamlet’s father is one of the factors that cause Hamlet to become insane.
Hamlet’s mother marriage with King Claudius is another reason that indirectly contributes to Hamlet’s insanity. This is because Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude, marries to his father’s brother quickly after his father has just died. Hamlet simply thinks his mother’s remarriage to King Claudius is disgusting because it is incest and he thinks his mother has betrayed his father. According to Johnson Samuel, he argues it is necessary to evaluate character Gertrude in order to understand how her remarriage to Claudius eventually leads to his son madness (Johnson). First of all, one of the critics, Niamh J. O’ Leary, thinks Shakespeare depicts Gertrude as an independent woman who is able to make her own judgments and overcome panics. This is because when King’s Hamlet dies, it does not take Gertrude a long time to recover as she marries to his husband’s brother quickly. Moreover, Niamh argues Gertrude decides to marry King Claudius because she wants to protect his son. She needs to protect his son because she knows Claudius has murdered her husband (O’Learny). In the play, audiences can see Hamlet describes his mother, Gertrude as a disloyal woman who betrays her husband. It is this betrayal that causes Hamlet to become insane when he confronts his
His mother and his uncle have married after only 2 months of Hamlet’s father’s death. This has caused Hamlet to be in a heavy state of anger, mixed with his already deep state of mourning. According to Theodore Lidz, these two states can lead to one thinking back on all the negative wishes one may have had in the past. Considering Hamlet’s relatively young age, death wishes upon a parent are not serious but they are common among children. “…and as most, if not all, children have sometimes had death wishes toward a parent, guilt over such wishes can become intense when the parent dies.” (Lidz 48) All of these emotions mixed together so early in the play could lead to a sense of depression.
There is a distinct division of opinion among the other characters of the play about Hamlet's sanity and the split is along gender lines. Ophelia and Gertrude both state that Hamlet has gone mad, but the major male characters, on the other hand, like Polonius think that there is "method" in Hamlet's "madness," that his insanity is a surface mask to shield him as he plans the darker purpose of revenge. Since Hamlet is disturbed by the sudden death of his father and his mother's marriage to his uncle, King Claudius, the abnormality of his behavior to some extent is also understandable. Hamlet is naturally withdrawn, dark, and passive in the wake of those traumatic events. He also shows this when he constantly releases his anger with lines like "How (weary), stale, flat, and unprofitable seems to me all the uses of this world!" His self-exile and his self-reproach are essentially normal reactions to a series of events that he must avenge at his dead father's command but without further direction against a powerful chain of power within the guilty King.
The most interesting thing about all of the characters' guesses as to the logic behind Hamlet's insanity is that the majority of their opinions stem from the thing that most plagues or preoccupies them. Claudius believes that Hamlet is crazy because he has a secret. This was ironic because the secret that Hamlet does have is that he knows that Claudius is his father's murderer. The very secret that plagues Claudius is the same that plagues Hamlet. Hamlet's mother, Gertrude, is wrapped up in her guilt about marrying Claudius so soon after the death of her late husband. She thinks that this must be what makes Hamlet rant so incoherently. While spying on Hamlet for the King, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern decide that he is going crazy because he can no longer fulfill his potential. Their betrayal of their school chum is fueled by the same blind ambition that they believefuels Hamlets insanity. Polonius thinks that Hamlet must be mad
Hamlet's public persona is a facade he has created to carry out his ulterior motives. The outside world's perception of him as being mad is of his own design. Hamlet is deciding what he wants others to think about him. Polonius, a close confidant of the King, is the leading person responsible for the public's knowledge of Hamlet's madness. The idea that Hamlet is mad centers around the fact that he talks to the ghost of his dead father. He communicates with his dead father's ghost twice, in the presence of his friends and again in the presence of his mother. By being in public when talking to the ghost, the rumor of his madness is given substance.
Insanity can be defined as a mental illness that causes a person to have difficulty distinguishing fantasy from reality. Whether Shakespeare’s Hamlet was insane or feigning insanity is a controversial topic. Gregory Shafer argues that Hamlet is not insane and that he uses insanity or madness for his own political purposes (42). In William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, Prince Hamlet’s circumstances force him to seek revenge for the murder of his father King Hamlet. He creates a plan that he believes will give him an opportunity to kill Claudius, and the main part of this plan involves him faking insanity. Further and further into the book, his actions of a madman become more believable. However through his thoughts and actions it is clear that he is not truly insane, and his is only acting in this way in order to reach is ultimate goal of revenge.
Gertrude appears oblivious to the fact that Claudius killed King Hamlet to take over the crown and to have her. Her decision to marry her deceased husband’s brother had a lot of people questioning her sanity also. “The funeral baked meats Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables” (Shakespeare 17). Gertrude had gotten married so quick after the funeral of King Hamlet that the food from the funeral catered for the wedding. During the play that Hamlet produced to show people what Claudius had done, she was blind to the fact that it was actually Claudius that he was talking about. Due to Hamlet knowing the truth, Claudius has been trying to kill him.
Hamlet is a young man who has become crazy from his trials and tribulations in life. He lost his father due to his uncle murdering them and then had to watch his mother marry the killer. Hamlets insanity can be demonstrated by his crude language and disregard for the well being of his mother. It can also be shown by his depression, which causes him to second guess everything including his life and finally his love, Ophelia helps to justify his absurdness by acting as a mirror. His foolish behavior worries many in the kingdom and creates a hostile and paranoid environment for those around. While some in the castle may believe that Hamlet is putting on an act, he proves that he is mad through his violet actions, his mental health and Ophelia.
In the beginning of the play the main character, Hamlet, gets a visit from the ghost of his father that has recently deceased unexpectedly. His father’s ghost appears throughout the play but only Hamlet has the ability to see this spirit which leads to the conception that he has gone insane. He grieves his father’s death in very unhealthy
The insanity of a person can be contributed through the trauma that is caused by a few events in a person’s life, but in the play Hamlet, William Shakespeare wrote the main character prince Hamlet experiences a few dramatic events from the play which his attitude changes throughout. In order to figure out whether hamlet is insane is by figuring out what the characteristics of his insanity. Characters see Hamlet in different shades of gray, each side more or less sane than others. His sanity can be his truth or his lie.
Shakespeare's Hamlet is a master of deception. Hamlet decides to make Claudius believe that he is insane, but the scheme backfires when everyone, except Claudius, falls for it. Ophelia is one of those who believes Hamlet lost his mind, and when he does not return her love, she is so brokenhearted that she commits suicide. Near the end of the tragedy, Hamlet plays the part so well, that he convinces himself he is insane. Clearly, Hamlet's plan to put on an antic disposition is a tragic error.
In Shakespeare's play Hamlet, there are several questions that come to the reader's mind regarding the emotional state of Hamlet. Was Hamlet really suffering from madness, as many of his friends and family thought? Was he mad or just pretending to be mad? Did Hamlet start out pretending to be mad, and his obsession drove him to madness? The reader gets insight into Hamlet's mental status through other characters and through Hamlet himself. If the characters had the information that Hamlet had about the murder of his father, would they have thought differently of his actions and his sanity?
Is Hamlet insane or genius? He is distracted and his mind is blank as he races towards an end where nothing matters as long as Claudius lives an eternal hell. His mind more complex than the family, friends, and readers know, an Einstein of his time, a true and composed genius. Broken, shattered, and soulless or vengeful, obedient, and truly cruel. Insane or intelligent that is for you to decide, but in this paper I will state my argument on why Hamlet is truly genius and a complete mastermind that drives the plot of the story to a disturbing end and a grucum finale in which murder and revenge are the subject of the matter.
In Hamlet, Hamlet portrays himself as the victim. Even when Hamlet heard the news of his father’s death he acted mad by blaming who he could and jumping to conclusions. When his father is killed, Hamlet’s insanity starts to shine through, bit by bit (When his mother and the king question Hamlet on his grief for his father, This is where he shows he is unstable). Hamlet is screaming at his mother telling her how his actions are honest and he is not pretending
Many criminal suspects today are found guilty by them attributing their insane actions to society by breaking human laws. In return, they are to make a contribution to in horrendous places such as place of confinement, guardhouse and correctional facility with their labour, effort and time. Nonetheless, what are the punishments for someone who feigned his or her madness and sparks off the death of the entire royal family? Shakespeare's Hamlet significantly demonstrates the consequences of dissimulating, in a way of dishonesty, but is Hamlet's madness simulated or real? This question is often left unanswered among the fans of Shakespeare's Hamlet. The idea of a character impersonating the concept or motif of insanity is not foreign to great literary works in modern days although many authors in ancient time use it to convey the sanity of the humor. There is much evidence in the play of Shakespeare's Hamlet, which Hamlet deliberately feigned fits of madness to confuse and plan to disconcert the king until he reveals his secret that he is responsible for Hamlet's father murder. However, the majority of the professors continue to argue that Hamlet's anti-decomposition is purely innocent and that he is not pretending. Nevertheless, with the similar saying of “One bad apple spoils the whole bunch”, in Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Hamlet: Prince of Denmark, Hamlet’s fatal flaw of
Assuming a fake insanity, Hamlet finds an excuse to act impulsively while concealing his real motive, which is to take vengeance on King Claudius. As a result to his his mental state, she is unable to reason or take action, making her appear as a passive character. Regardless of the character’s externalization of insanity, both are initially pitied by the reader. Shakespeare opts to make the audience feel sympathy towards Hamlet